British Airways to launch Indianapolis

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It appears that British Airways is gearing up to launch flights to Indianapolis in Summer 2022.

As highlighted by @SeanM1997 on Twitter, BA has asked to reallocate Heathrow slots to allow an Indianapolis route from next Summer.

There are currently no flights from Indianapolis to Europe, although Delta ran a service to Paris pre-covid. This service was underwritten by a generous $5 million payment from the Indiana General Assembly and you are welcome to guess the answer to the question “What did British Airways find attractive about Indianapolis?”.

We will let you know if/when British Airways makes an official announcement.

PS. The same tweet also suggests the return of Calgary, Kuala Lumpur, Pittsburgh and Portland, as well as Virgin Atlantic potentially moving Antigua, Islamabad and Montego Bay back to Gatwick. If weekend press reports are to be believed, the potential for the ‘use it or lose it’ slot rules to return for Summer 2022 is worrying Virgin Atlantic because it simply does not have enough Heathrow slots if demand returns to pre-pandemic levels.

How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways BA Amex American Express card

British Airways American Express

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British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

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The Platinum Card from American Express

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We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

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The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

(Want to earn more Avios? Click here to visit our home page for our latest articles on earning and spending your Avios points and click here to see how to earn more Avios this month from offers and promotions.)

Category

British Airways and Avios

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Trev says:

17 Nov17 November 05:07

Well that will make the Indy 500 trip a lot easier! Excellent news if true.
Cwyfan says:

17 Nov17 November 06:26

When does the summer season start and finish with BA?

What dates were flights to Calgary available when BA last flew there? Was it just summer?

Thanking you in anticipation.
- marcw says:
  
  17 Nov17 November 07:33
  
  IATA Summer season starts the last Sunday in March. Winter season starts the last Sunday in October.
  - Alex Sm says:
    
    17 Nov17 November 07:39
    
    It’s the same as summer time for the clocks – the easiest way to remember
    - ChrisC says:
      
      17 Nov17 November 08:52
      
      Only if the clocks change that same weekend!
      
      Which they do in Europe but not in USA and Canada for example where they change on the 2nd Sunday in March and 1st Sunday of November.
      - Alex Sm says:
        
        17 Nov17 November 22:18
        
        They have always been a bit rebellious… but it’s the UK where it all started, so it’s British Summer Time as a benchmark
Jon says:

17 Nov17 November 06:29

Would take more than 1000 Avios to tempt me into a road trip at the moment with rental prices. I have reward flights booked for a US coast-to-coast trip next year but I don’t expect to use them so will cancel at some point
- Matarredondaaa says:
  
  17 Nov17 November 08:27
  
  Car rental prices everywhere are ridiculous at the moment.
  - sayling says:
    
    17 Nov17 November 09:01
    
    I can’t work out whether I’m amused or bemused by the comment from an OTA I’m currently booking a trip through, when they said prices were being raised by the hire car companies to “manage demand”.
    They are all pretty much eye watering at the moment
    - PGW says:
      
      17 Nov17 November 09:42
      
      Well my own demand has been very effectively managed by current rates in that it has killed it dead.
      - Bagoly says:
        
        17 Nov17 November 17:13
        
        +1
  - Tariq says:
    
    17 Nov17 November 11:10
    
    I thought that, but managed to get a full size from Sixt in Lisbon this week, including one-way charge for £24/day via Expedia…
- Elizabeth Wright says:
  
  17 Nov17 November 09:49
  
  Down to the pandemic – lots of car rental companies sold the cars or handed back if under leases, and didn’t replace existing stock.
  - David S says:
    
    17 Nov17 November 09:58
    
    It’s also down to price gouging to recover lost income. In Portugal the rates are astronomical but the rental car lots are overflowing with cars
- H says:
  
  17 Nov17 November 10:11
  
  I think I got good deal with Ebookers. People carrier in April 2022 from SFO to LAS £590 all in with zero excess for 10 days. This includes one way drop off charges as well.
- Rich says:
  
  17 Nov17 November 15:28
  
  I’m holding onto a pay later Hertz reservation at GVA for January which I might no longer need. Current prices are 3x what I agreed (which was already too much!). It would be nice to think I could sell my option back to Hertz for a tidy profit.
  
  (I know it doesn’t work this way.)
JandeW says:

17 Nov17 November 08:10

Is that BA flights possibly to Portland, Maine or Portland, Oregon?
- Andrew says:
  
  17 Nov17 November 08:50
  
  It was Portland, Oregon that they intended launching in June 2020.
  
  https://mediacentre.britishairways.com/pressrelease/details/86/0/11920
  - RussellH says:
    
    17 Nov17 November 09:14
    
    Not sure why they would ever want to fly to both Boston and Portland ME.
Paul says:

17 Nov17 November 09:03

Any sign of MSY returning, even just a few days per week?
Joe says:

17 Nov17 November 09:08

One day BA will announce some routes where I might actually be tempted to visit. I get the sweetener sealed the deal for Indianapolis, but come on, how many people really want to go there? Yawnsville. Surely there is demand for some better leisure routes?
- Rhys says:
  
  17 Nov17 November 09:31
  
  I can highly recommend Portland. Great base for exploring the PNW
- ChrisC says:
  
  17 Nov17 November 09:36
  
  15th largest populous city in the US – larger than several existing US BA destinations
  
  29th largest economic region in the US – also larger than several existing BA destinations
  
  BA only started MSY because it got a subsidy.Ditto Nashville.
  - Brian P says:
    
    17 Nov17 November 09:41
    
    In addition Indianapolis will cover Cincinnati, which I believe is the largest city without a direct UK flight.
  - The cyclist says:
    
    17 Nov17 November 13:48
    
    Well done, now what do you think of Orients chances this weekend Chris.
- SammyJ says:
  
  17 Nov17 November 09:57
  
  I’d have thought they’ve kinda got most of the leisure routes covered – Florida, Cali, Texas, Vegas, NY, New Orleans, Seattle, Phoenix, Denver, Chicago… where else would you be thinking? Other than the loss of Charleston & Savannah, where else is missing? It’s the big gap in the middle I’d like them to fill.
- Yorkieflyer says:
  
  17 Nov17 November 10:47
  
  Yes, endless peripheral uninteresting US destinations and Asia largely abandoned
SammyJ says:

17 Nov17 November 09:38

Any idea offhand which Avios bracket Indianapolis would fit into? Same as Chicago & Washington, or the further away one like Atlanta & Nashville?
- Mr(s) Entitled says:
  
  17 Nov17 November 14:22
  
  LHR to Chicago is 3,940 miles and Indianapolis is 3,975 miles so same bracket? I’m not sure which exact points are used for calculating the distance.
  - SammyJ says:
    
    17 Nov17 November 18:38
    
    Thanks, fingers crossed!
Brian P says:

17 Nov17 November 09:40

Absolute game changer for us, with the in-laws in Ohio. Flying thru ORD is is traversing the outer rings of hell; how is the monorail still not working… Fingers crossed.
- ChrisC says:
  
  17 Nov17 November 10:31
  
  It restarted operating on the 3rd of November.